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Solving city issues with SEAT

What makes an idea a great one is not only its originality but also its utility. The fact that something is needed in society is, very often, what makes it successful. According to this premise, iCity Project and SEAT have been working on a great idea that can solve one of the biggest dramas for European drivers, especially in big cities: parking.

Jordi Caus , Manager of Alternative Mobility New Projects of SEAT, claimed in his presentation at the iCity’s Final Review that park was “the most annoying activity reported by our customers when driving in cities”. It is not only an opinion but the result of a research which concludes that 30% of the moving cars in the city are just looking for a park spot and the driver usually need about 20 minutes to find it.

The new AppParkFinder is the solution that iCity Project and SEAT are planning to offer to European citizens. At this moment is only a pilot that has been tested in Reus and Barcelona since these cities opened their Information Systems to the iCity Platform. According to Jordi Caus intervention at the Final Review and the Smart City Congress of Barcelona, the results of the pilot have been very good, especially in Barcelona where there was more data provided.

Towards a Smart City future

The ParkFinder is an easy-to-use App that leads the driver to free park spots. Taking into consideration that thanks to the iCity Platform, ParkFinder could work in any European city, connecting more parking data from other cities would allow to rollout it in the market, and making a difference in our society by reducing the stress that many drivers suffer from parking their c ars

Neither iCity Project or SEAT means to end their investigation with ParkFinder, there are much more objectives to achieve. For example, SEAT’s aim is to facilitate a more efficient urban mobility where driving is safer, quieter and more economical. The iCity Project’s goal is to get more European cities to open their Information Systems in order to amplify the benefits of the project.

Barcelona, which has been one of the most active cities in the iCity Project, hold this November the Smart City Expo World Congress where ideas, information and inspiration were in the air leading the path toward a real smart city. One of the these ideas was the ParkFinder which Jordi Cirera, Project Manager of Barcelona City Council, presented at the SII Concatel stand during their “Conversaciones 360º” program. Cirera explained the advantages of developing the App with the iCity Platform and also talked about Sentilo, altogether a bunch of ideas and projects that are already leading our future towards the smart city world.